The Art of Wedding Filmmaking

Lesson 14 of 35

Aspects of Killer Shots

The Art of Wedding Filmmaking

Lesson 14 of 35

Aspects of Killer Shots

Lesson Info

Aspects of Killer Shots

I have four aspects to get killer shot you know and one of them is revealed now with reveal it's a technique where you know it adds it adds impact and you saw cem revealing shots in the central fire us film what it does it helps with the transition so in a smoother fashion the viewer can be invited to the next scene and that's you know that's a smooth transition so you can use it as a transition that reveal so next like the next what I'll show you I'll show you some examples of you know, some revealing shots obviously saw something with sandra far but well specifically look at some reveal type shots I'm moving in there and it's not predictable it's not obvious so we're we're creating like this impact and introducing you know, the next the next sane all the next part of the story and it helped with the editing yeah because of all your shots and just like pretty shots you know, like nicely framed that's cool but if they're all the same this what it does it they shot him into give you var...

iety as well to give it more impact and also to have a purpose in your shooting so then you can introduce another saying in a very seamless fashion reflections can you do that too much the reveal like what is too much you can you can do too much of anything you know how much how much to use the reveal shots well you know I look at it I look at it at look at that concert in per segment on the day so if I'm looking at the broader prep specifically you know I get what I need in terms of to get the mini story off the bridal prep you know so generally like you know there's no specific rule but you know, maybe two or three shots you know off each you know it's one of those things it's it's kind of like it's objective I think it's a case by case thing you know so you just need to think about okay well, I've got these shots and how do they relate to these revealing shots that I have maybe I got four if I have these four with these other shots is that so it just depends on what you've captured and how you captured because as you know this there are different ways to do revealing shots that don't have to come from black that can just come from like a at a focus section off the shot and then you can move into focus that's that's another way of reveal often people think reveal its from black to revealing to the picture which is one example so look there's no rule you just you just need to focus on you know how you can communicate the message because if the shots look if you have too many off the set if you have too many shots that looks similar that's what it comes down to it because you could have four different revealing shots that looked totally different and therefore that will allow things to be mysterious and interesting but definitely had four revealing shots that looked super like similar then that's not going to help you yeah so reflections you know they're awesome because not only that they look cool and interesting and create impact but it's a way for you to deal with tight spots tight spaces yeah and again you're adding another dimension ing your your your storytelling it's a way I called this is a term but where it's using film making its frame frame within frame and what that does it it kind of soup like it focus on the subject um further yeah so you often see that you know with you know films that you see at the cinema you have subject within the frame of the frame and what that does it draws attention off it draws the viewer's attention to that subject even further so let's have a look it's um um and also another thing I forgot is reflections can allow you to avoid any interference in the shop like any distractions you know so you can frame you show in a way that you show what you want to show so yeah let's look at some reflections that I've captured movement, but I'm just kind of like focusing on what I need to focus on and some of the shots you know, I use a reflection because it was quite clotted, and I just wanted to add another dimension in the series of shots to demonstrate the for example, the bridal prep movement's I'll feel before you move on. Oh, yes, the reflections are you looking for reflections in water also are always mirrors no canti what's great that you mentioned that, so I didn't have any examples, but definitely you can have reflections in what is that, you know, ads, you know, adds a lot to your use inventory winning cinematography? Yeah, definitely. So look, it's a case where, you know again, you just need to assess the space that you're working, you know, and not, you know, there's so many ways that you can avoid being predictable, you know, it's about having variety and that variety should be driven by particular purpose to communicate a message, and it basically created more impact on the moving onto movements a third way to get those awesome and killer shot do you want to add energy to two shots of demonstrated some shots? You've seen a lot of shots where they just stationary, but a little times you wanna have energy like more energy kinetic energy if you like moving energy in your shots because for example, when we're getting a black hand off the car moving in, then you're actually the view is moving with moving with the vehicle moving with the subject um, and it's it's really good for b roll because when you're editing what it does, it allows things to just flow a lot better because if all your shots you know, ecstatic, you have the risk of jump cut. So with movement is this this more energy that's more impact, but also it helps with your editing process, which all demonstrate we put some clips together in so you have these categories of stylistic shooting when you go into a situation, do you run through those styles to make sure you have every single one of them in for footage for editing later? Or is it just based off of what's best for the situation? More what's, best for the situation so subconsciously I do have a mental note because once you do this after wall it becomes second nature, but I'm constantly looking what's happening and I'm telling myself, all right hack tell this in a way that it's interesting and that it will help the edit it will help drive the audience it will help make it mohr exciting, etcetera, etcetera I keep telling myself that I had this other rule where I tell myself I can have how can I get a good shot I've got the good shot how can I make that shot into a great shot then I've got the great show how can I make that great shot into a killer shot so it's you raising the bar constantly and you do that like every time you're at a bridal prep every time you're at a venue whatever you're shooting you gotta keep otherwise what happens is you become quite staggering in the way you shoot I can't get my shot but you goto basically tell you so far right you know it's like we're better play a sport you know you gotta psych yourself up but this is like a mental psych up there it's okay I've got this challenge yourself that's what I mean challenge yourself every time you get a shot that's what I that's what works for me mate may not work for you maybe you find that in the way but that what works for me I'm sorry I'm not a great story I am sorry can you talk about what what's a jump cut jump up jump cut is a notice bull cut in the edit where it's your kind of like going from a similar frame to another toe another similar frame so it's a it's a it's a distraction and you know, you may go from a close up to another close up basically so it's what it does jump cut, you can break the rules, right? But in terms of if you if you doing something where you don't want to break the rule a jump cut, what it does it it it doesn't make the edit seamless, whereas we feed to a junk it's kind of like startles the viewer, but you can use that technique if maybe you want to, for example, create something a sequence where it's gotta look like soup like a lot of energy, our client edgy where you're capturing dancing might do some jump cuts here, you know, especially if it's like a great couple and they got the it's a bigger cause, a big pickle is like that crazy like dance they do with the whisky on the ground and like doing this thing and yeah, maybe because it's high energy I'll do some jump cuts there because I want to I want to shake up the viewer, yeah, like gum, and if he seen run lola run, they use a lot of jump sites here. Obviously deliberately I have more questions that day, so the movement's I'm curious about movements are you always speaking about your own movement or is movement in the video included in movement so, like, when you had all of the groomsmen coming down the stairs and there was movement and I'm not sure if you had if you moved with them as well, but I'm wondering when you say movements, you just mean you moving your gliding, not people moving or is it both? Um, no it's more your bill creating movement in the shot? And it should be subtle, like, especially when you have, like, black and shot and I've often seen a lot of people do go, I can't well everyone's different, but I just find if you're trying to be subtle, you know, glad canst slash city cam shots should be, you know, like it's very easy to do like that, that fast movement and generally unless your it's deliberate and you hate doing it for a reason, foster superfast movement can be quite distracting, and it doesn't help in terms of making it seamless, and you need to be subtle that's that's the the lesson here, the message he be subtle, so you know, for example, you could be, you know, you could be two shooting let's say I'll show you some examples of what I'll do is I'll show you some examples a love them actually be done, they've done with the money part and the reason being with the money because, like I said, you don't need to go overboard with the movement, you know you don't need thio show, I show you some examples with the fourteen mill, but they're like specialty shots exaggerate the movement, but generally speaking, mess your shots should be you're moving shots should be settled, you don't want the viewers to go like to kind of, like, notice that the movement should be just seamless. I don't know if you mention this yet, but are you pulling focus with your fingers or idea of a follow focus? And I think it's all right looking at some movement examples very subtle, these are some detail shot, and we saw that center firearms should introduce a shot moving in a bit of reflection shot this is a classic, you know, moving show with mono pod never revealed bits and movement, they're very subtle, some movement there just cosmetic, but I'm also moving a little bit slider shot. She has this very subtle, subtle movement as impact dimension pan up, you know, classic pan up it yeah, there's, a bit of reveal here, but, you know, this is movement do you constantly like, you know you're driving your audience to certain things, you know, but with movement, the idea is to create extra energy, creating energy and you showed us earlier you rack focus I think it was the boats out in the bay on the rack focus came all the way into the ring sitting on the leaf or something is that is that from yesterday's yesterday on the beach one yeah I think so is that on example of movement when your rack focusing on that is depth of field ok yeah which show you here but it's more towards like you know using your focus which is you know using the depth of the space of the what ing focus in isolating the viewer to that subject using you dip the field so depth of field that was a good question there was a good question because there are overlapping you notice there there's some overlaps in terms of like some some have like a little movement and also is like revealing and it's um using I want your head's got mirror shot movement and reveal but these like full aspects where to kind of categorize them and the idea is not to be mechanical okay today this shot I'm going to do some of the reflection it's just to kind of give yet they should be like a checklist it should be just tow to guide you in terms of like these are like little techniques or aspects I should say teo achieve those you know really interesting kill shots so we dipped the field like I said you want to draw the idea is to isolate the subject or what you're showing to the viewer, so they're they're focused on part of the plan. They focused on what you're showing and there's many ways to do that you can do that from using the actual focus. So the dip, the fielding time to focus it like this shallowness off the fields, shallow like fellow dipped the field so you have something in focus, and then the rest is out of focus. So then you drawn to that, but he can also in terms of, like shooting through things, creating depth similar to the vanishing point. But you're creating dip and that's that step the field as well, you know, and the way looking at it. So I'll show you some examples using depth here gonna give it dimension, you know, using lines, it's all about looking for lines, vanishing point, you know, specific things that are in focus so that they're drawn to that like, I'm drawing them bank and I'm using here like, I want people to focus on them see, I'm using lines here to bring the audience like, like, literally, this is how I want the view, it's a things like bank, they're, um, they're drawn to that to that section. Okay one two three four five so slider shots pans, etcetera and are these common techniques that have proven the test of time or do you notice like trends and different kinds of shots that happened? Flo no, not necessarily. I think it just depends on what space feel you're you're working in what you're trying to portray with the subject and again, you know it comes down to being very deliberate and what you're shooting so sometimes you know, you have certain techniques and aspects that you use you know, at a particular part of the day and then sometimes you use other techniques for that for that day just depends what you're working in okay, this question goes back to the video the wedding video and the question is does the way that you shoot reflect the couple's energy? Do you have a fast paced shots for high energy couples and slope a shots for more reserved quiet couples or do you have just it's your style and they've they've seen your website and they're hiring him because they like your style versus you're trying to match their style so we were trying to get from kobe as well yeah, there isn't that's a really good question where we're constantly trying to, um create shorts that reflect their personality so for example like with dance footage when it's for example like a greek ceremony or a greek wedding or some sort of culture wedding with is, like high impact of high energy type music, with a dancing to I would use I shouldn't like, for example, with with his a cuter handheld that's, a bit edgy with a fifty mil and the reason being that because with the fifty million, you're going to get a little bit of shake, but I do it in a way that it's not it doesn't look like it's it's a mistake, it's just to kind of add a bit of intensity, so definitely we look into live event, right? So, you know, we don't have an ideal world, so it's not like every single shot is like super, like deliberate to the tea, but that's what you should be striving for, and if you maximize that each on each wedding, then your your films will be will be tail it as a an optimum level. Okay? And we have a question from ci mill. How many wedding films did you do before you felt comfortable doing? Same day edits? Um, well, look the same to edit challenges really more on the editor, we don't change so much, our actual shooting, it's, the concept and the and the pressure and all that it's pretty much the same, so I guess what changes is is that what they may like what you mean like in terms yeah it's more what changes is it's more on the editor that's what changes on the shoot the chute stays pretty much the same in terms of intensity and what we need to capture so I'll feel as faras the you know, the four things to get killer shots are you are you have you done this so long that you just know that you need some reflection child she needs some movement shots are you thinking yourself okay haven't gotten any reflection shots I need to get a couple of those or are you just it's so ingrained in you now and how do you recommend for people that are just starting out to get that list in grain into their minds so when they're you know in the heat of the moment in a wedding or even when you're watching the bride and groom get ready it can be hectic and there's a lot going on and it's probably easy to forget these steps so how do you recommend people ingrain them in their in their process personally obviously not doing this for wall it's become second nature so when I'm on in a particular scene I just because I've trained myself to look att you know certain things that are happening in this space and everything so it's second nature for me but for someone that is developing the skills I would say to them don't think too much off like that every scene has tohave thes four aspects have that those these four aspects in your mind that these are the aspects that help you to get those shots that you need but more so make your decision when you're shooting, observe look around, listen, listen for clues, especially the bridal print they start saying all you know, if they start talking about I can't, we're goingto bring out the gifts or something, so you need to constantly be alert with what's happening and make your decision on the shoot as opposed to saying ok, I've got all these shots I need to get them I need to get a couple of them gonna walk in and look for work for a reflection shot if you do that and what happens is it becomes like too mechanical it's not like a deliberate for that same yeah, and I'll feel it's apparently how much passion you bring to your craft? How do you inspire that in your crew as well? And how do you keep your energy high on the wedding day? Have fun but just have fun simple is that, like with with my career, we just have a really good time and when we going from location from one like, I should sit next just it doesn't always have to be about what shot we need to get with just you know so what'd you do on the weekend man like you know how you being you know, just keep it cash but then obviously when you're on the field then we're all switched on we know what we're doing because I mentioned that how important it is beforehand that you establish a connection not just with your couples but with your crew then you guys you'll work seamlessly so have fun with it. All right? So another question is your business partner a big part of the process like the pre wedding or how much how much involvement so you might my the thie other my mother shooter and mother cope my co worker yeah, I like tio have no involved quite a bit in terms of you know, that process and the philosophy I'm way makes you know we hang out and you know it's about, you know, putting up we put out personality into the shoot and other shooters that we work with, you know, do the same and I love to inject that into people you know, just in general not just with couples but people I work with suppliers you know, it's important you know that personality good tabs wear question from still this stills still does stills from ontario, canada what's your setup for showing the same day at it at the venue so what kind of equipment do you have or what do you bring one here? So usually the venues have the equipment, but if they don't, you know we can just bring in a screen that you can you can rent rent at your your local photo slash video rental place and I have to talk my head I don't know, I can't tell you like specific models for speakers, but you do need decent speakers that we've stands you can get speak is where they're they're not too bulky and heavy, but most venues unless it's like like an actual venue and they don't have, like, you know, a system, then you obviously that's the thing with the planning, you need to work this out, but if it's a venue, you can actually just plug in to their system and it works and then you can just bring a screen to find out what what's what's the set up. But if there's no set up that you need to bring a screen, that is, you know, obviously sixteen by nine and you need a projector good projector, when you go into that, when you go to the rental place, they don't know you explain to him what you need, I just don't have any specific speakers or projectors, but you want a good projector they're not expensive to rent okay, one final question before we go to break so in watching that video which I think was fairly long, how long was the wedding video that we watched it nine minutes minutes because I was actually intrigued and watching the whole nine minutes what does nearly impossible usually at a minute thirty you're like okay, so that speaks volumes to your creativity and talent and I just want I would like to know like, what is your what was your favorite part of making that video? What what is the thing that you love the most about that I think this guy opposition really yeah, because that was like for me that was, um it was very specific for them and I was there and I was watching this unfold them communicating in and just being in their own world like I'm filming this and I'm doing my thing and I'm being technical and capturing the moment like this is like, I'm falling right here in their house I'm watching this, you know, that you know is sharing their their emotions and so that was one of one of my yeah, my favorite of the day there were so many but because it was different too it's not like it's not a common thing where you're capturing skype sessions for couples it needs to be a specific thing and obviously for them it was a specific aspect in their journey

Class Description

What’s the difference between a videographer and a true cinematographer? How can a single shooter successfully capture a complete wedding story? Join filmmaker Alfio Stuto for a three-day introduction to the wedding cinematographer’s mindset and toolbox. Alfio will cover everything you need to know about video storytelling, post-production workflow, attracting clients, and growing a business. You’ll learn how to choose the equipment right for you, from lenses to lighting equipment, and beyond. Alfio will share the one-of-a-kind techniques he’s developed over a decade of success as a cinematographer, including how to capture a live event through moving, evocative imagery that will last forever. By the end of this course, you’ll have the skills you need to tell a compelling, emotional story through video, with results your clients will love.